


Of Puppy Love and Fluffy Monsters

by learashi



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-28
Updated: 2017-04-28
Packaged: 2018-10-28 02:40:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10822035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/learashi/pseuds/learashi
Summary: When Jun had agreed to do the movie he knew that the setting would make having animals a part of the action a very high possibility, but he’d expected that to all be taken care of by experts. The last thing he’d imagined would be him being forced to work at a mega pet shop for a week to familiarize himself with the handling of various animals.





	Of Puppy Love and Fluffy Monsters

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cielmelodies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cielmelodies/gifts).



"Jun. The car is here." Sho held out Jun's coat encouragingly.

All he received in return was a grunt and eyebrows that scrunched together, a sure sign that Jun was extremely displeased.

"Remind me one more time why I agreed to do this?" Jun grumbled as he crammed a cap on his head and pushed his glasses up his nose.

"Because you need to get used to it before you start filming. The director was quite insistent, or so you complained to me...repeatedly." Sho added the last words under his breath as he turned to grab Jun’s scarf from the coat rack.

"What?” Jun asked with a suspicious glare.

“Um…I love you and have a nice day?” Sho said quickly while plastering on his most winning smile.

“Humph,” grumped Jun as he allowed Sho to give him a peck on the lips before he found himself being propelled out the door.

++++

Jun was slumped so low in the back seat that the driver almost thought that he’d fallen out somewhere until he heard a deep sigh echo around the interior of the car.

When Jun had agreed to do the movie he knew that the setting would make having animals a part of the action a very high possibility, but he’d expected that to all be taken care of by experts. The last thing he’d imagined would be him being forced to work at a mega pet shop for a week to familiarise himself with the handling of various animals.

He knew and his manager knew, heck, the whole _world_ knew about the aversion that animals seemed to have of him. No matter how hard he tried, he always ended up at the receiving end of various humiliations whenever he was even remotely near to anything that was living but not human. This didn’t include plants of course, especially his prized bonsai. Just the thought of their calming influence made him sit up a little straighter in his seat.

It was only when they pulled up at the rear entrance of his new temporary place of employment that his heart sank even lower than his slumped shoulders.

++++

When Jun arrived home that evening Sho was waiting with an extra-large glass of red wine in his hand and the first aid kit in the other.

Jun looked completely exhausted as he shuffled to the bathroom and dropped listlessly into the bath Sho had prepared for him. He took a large gulp of wine, wincing as Sho began to dab antiseptic onto the crisscross pattern of scratches on the back of his hands.

“Some of these look really nasty.” Sho frowned as he examined a particularly deep wound. “What on earth did they make you look after? Was it some kind of wild animal?”

“K..ns,” Jun mumbled.

“Sorry? I didn’t quite catch that.” Sho asked.

“Kittens! I had to look after half a dozen Persian kittens,” Jun replied with a shudder. He could still feel their tiny needle like teeth and claws rending his skin. How something so cute and furry could be so dangerous was still a mystery to him.

Sho muttered something about fetching some more wine, barely making it out of the room in time before bursting into hastily muffled giggles.

++++

Jun was hopeful the next day when he was told that there was a new litter of puppies coming in, especially when he found out they were miniature poodles. How bad could a bunch of fluff balls be?

When Jun removed them from their carrier he was instantly captivated. They were so small and soft and seemed to like him; one even licked his chin with a tiny pink tongue as he groomed it with a soft brush.

He remembered the advice that Aiba had given him to lie down on the floor and allow them to climb over him, which would put them at their ease with him.

On his back and covered with wriggling puppies he felt an involuntary grin spreading across his face. Unfortunately a few minutes later that wasn't the only thing he felt spreading.

++++

"You're home early," Sho said with surprise as Jun stomped past him in the direction of the bathroom.

Jun was peeling off his clothes as he walked, tossing them on the floor with a stony expression.

"Jun?" Sho bent to pick up Jun's shirt, recoiling at the pungent smell coming from it. There were strange yellow stains as well. "What's this on your shirt? What happened?"

The cream coloured trousers were even worse as Sho disdainfully picked them up with the tips of two fingers.

"Don't ask. Just throw everything that I was wearing today away," Jun yelled through the noise of the shower running. "On second thoughts burn them."

By the time Jun finally emerged from the shower, only after the hot water ran out, Sho had almost managed to contain his hysterical laughter.

"And they call it puppy loo-oo-ovve," Sho sang under his breath.

The look on Jun's face made it worthwhile for Sho to have to sleep on the sofa that night - almost.

++++

Harry the Sulphur Crested Cockatoo seemed to take a liking to Jun, climbing up his arm and sitting comfortably on his shoulder for most of the next morning. He carefully watched Jun’s progress, cleaning out the rabbit cages and feeding the fish, passing the occasional comment and nibbling gently on Jun’s hair.

Jun found himself gradually relaxing and almost enjoying himself. The customers were all so happy and excited to be finding a new addition to the family. But the best part of his day was when a small girl chose a chubby brown hamster to be her new pet. It wasn’t just the smile on her face as she ever so gently stroked his fur that made him happy, but the choice of name. He was sure that “Sho-chan” was going to love his new home, if the amount of food that her parents purchased for him at the same time was any indication.

It was only when Jun tried to put Harry down so he could duck out and grab some fresh air and something to eat that disaster struck.

Harry refused to let go, digging his sharp nails into Jun’s shoulder and screeching loud enough directly into his ear to practically puncture his eardrum. After a struggle which involved Jun’s glasses being knocked onto the floor and Harry grabbing hold of his eyebrow with his large black beak he was finally freed from the grip of the enraged bird.

It took a very long phone conversation with Sho, and the promise of a trip to an onsen to get him calm enough to be able to return to the mega store for the rest of the day.

++++

Sho was away filming for the rest of the week, which made him sad. Seeing Jun so out of his comfort zone gave him a guilty twinge of pleasure that he would never admit to anyone. He loved Jun deeply but he always felt the tiniest bit inferior to Jun’s unsurpassable levels of perfection. It was commonly accepted that Sho was more likely to fail at any given task while Jun sailed through immaculate and unruffled. This was a nice reminder that his boyfriend was human too and in Sho’s eyes even more lovable when his flaws were on show.

++++

When Jun dragged himself into the kitchen on the morning after Sho left he didn’t know whether to be happy or sad that he was gone. On one hand he had spent the entire week teasing him mercilessly but he had also been incredibly tender and supportive too. He had treated all of his cuts and scratches and plied him with wine and little treats to keep his spirits up when he was at the end of his tether and ready to give up.

Sitting on the countertop was a beautifully wrapped bento box. Next to it was a jumbo sized calming lavender and chamomile candle, travel sized first aid kit, and best of all a miniature bottle of whiskey with a tiny label attached saying “for emergencies only”. Jun laughed out loud, happy for the first time since his week of torture had begun. He was worried by the bento at first, wondering if Sho had produced the contents himself, but the note sitting next to it explained that Sho had arranged for it to come from a local restaurant.

Curious as to its contents Jun carefully removed the silky wrapping from the bento box, pausing to admire the beautiful lacquered surface which depicted red cranes flying. The contents however made him think that Sho was one lucky man to be filming all the way over in Sapporo. Every item of food in the box had been painstakingly crafted to resemble the animals that had been making him crazy for the past week. There were kittens and puppies and lizards and even a miniature version of Harry the crazed cockatoo.

Jun didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or jump on the nearest plane, fly the one and half hours there, smack his boyfriend in the head and fly back in time to finish his final shifts at the pet store.

In the end he settled on teary laughter and a threatening text message.

++++

Sho was contemplating going to bed, but he’d decided to wait up for Jun to return from his production meeting regarding the film. He knew that despite the acclimatization at the pet store Jun’s issues with animals still existed. Jun’s stress levels would go through the roof if he felt that he wasn’t giving his utmost towards a role and there was no way that he was going to allow that to happen.

His perseverance was rewarded when Jun sprang through the door with a light step, humming loudly and executing a few dance moves.

“Good meeting?” Sho laughingly questioned after Jun took him by the hands and twirled him across the floor like an entrant in a ballroom dancing competition.

“I finally found out what animal I have to handle in the movie and it turns out that she actually likes me,” Jun said happily. “So I bought her home to show you,” he added with a slightly scary smile.

Sho was always worried when Jun took on a new drama role since for the duration of shooting he tended to incorporate some aspects of his character’s personality into his own. However Sho was happy that Jun had finally overcome his problem with animals sufficiently to be confident when his newly acquired skills were needed. He was less than happy when Jun pulled his jacket pocket open and the head of a brown and white rat popped out and looked around.

Sho screamed at a higher pitch than Jun had ever heard him scream before, even when strapped into a rollercoaster or faced with a coriander salad, before running full pelt into the bedroom.

Making a mental note to buy Nino dinner for the next month for lending him the mechanical rat he used sometimes for his magic tricks, Jun wondered exactly how long he should let Sho have hysterics before he went in to tell him the truth.

Considering the amount of fun Sho had enjoyed at his expense for the past week, Jun thought he might take the long way round.


End file.
